deadSun -MAXIMAL- 15 Bye Bye Murkvey

 This session was honestly a blur. I didn't sleep the night before and we were all kinda goofy and exhausted. We're coming up on a 3 week break and I have some new schemes in the works for after the break that had me distracted (more on those later).

I think what happened was Kestrel scattered the menacing glass spiders with a successful wager using their sword cannon to make a weird pool noodle sound that terrified them deeply. The party continued trekking through the depths -- Gemini saw some smoldering yellow eyes staring them down from the depths of a dark chasm -- until they reached the room with the King's Crown. Kestrel poked the door in and looked inside, where 7 strange pastel rubbery foot-tall men-creatures were cavorting and chanting before the Crown, which was placed atop a ramshackle pedestal of sticky crystal. 

The creatures immediately ceased and pointed at Kestrel and yelled in a strange rubbery indecipherable cadence, barring crystal fangs. Kestrel shut the door and the Company hatched a scheme. Upon reopening it Kestrel strode confidently toward the Crown and Gemini and the new slime girl deviant Thalice flanked them regally, posing as if they were their honor guard. In retrospect this was a pretty good scheme and I probably should have given them the win here, but I rolled a poor reaction on behalf of the critters and was sort of hungover and cranky so it didn't work out. A fatal call. When Kestrel lifted the crown up and placed it on their head, the creatures barred their fangs and pounced.

Kestrel slew two of the creatures handily with their hand cannon while Gemini and Thalice engaged another group of them. Three of the homunculi pounced on Kestrel and each rolled insanely well on its d4 damage die, and Kestrel was already at low health from the prism trap last session; they tore out Kestrel's robotic jugular and Kestrel died as they lived, seeking the King's Crown.

Gemini and Thalice slew several more tomb homunculi and the remaining creatures scattered, disappearing into crevices in the crystal. The party looted poor Kestrel's corpse and made for the surface with their 44,000cp worth of treasure in the massive crown, 3' in diameter, too large and heavy for any head to bear its weight.

They luckily picked their way back to the surface without issue, pushing through exhaustion, and hurrying their pace as a strange noise echoed from beneath their feet and the tomb's walls seemed to shake.

Surfacing from the tomb, they reunited with Murkvey and his goons. He asked about where Kestrel was, and if they had seen the orb of the King. Murkvey mused that at least Kestrel died doing what they loved. Slime girl claimed they had seen the orb but it was too heavy and so they had to put it back; Murkvey was whipped up into a frenzy by this and said that him and his boys were the toughest in the biz and they would happily provide the muscle to extract it. They whooped and hollered as they descended on ropes fireman-style back into the tomb, the night breeze picking up as the dying sun set red and gigantic in the west, Gemini and Thalice regaining their bearings and a mysterious stranger looming silhouetted on the horizon as the long dusk fell upon the land of deadSun -MAXIMAL-.

deadSun -MAXIMAL- 14 Prism Tomb Rising

LOOT

> Nothing!

DEVELOPMENTS

> One of the strange mummy being's phantasmal eyeballs was destroyed by Kestrel.

RECAP

On that fateful day we returned with the Company in the midst of looting crystal tombs in a vast milk-colored chamber as gigantic prisms whirred and cast blinding light from the ceiling above. Immediately Kestrel struck out westward across the center of the chamber. Upon taking a step the glittering floor tile clicked into place and a searing light struck down upon Kestrel from above. Kestrel staggered back and collapsed into the looted crystal tomb, wounded, knocked unconscious, and half of their machine-eyes completely burnt out from the searing ray. Things were not looking good for the Company. Now warmed up, the prisms overhead began to crackle and whirr at a higher frequency.

In a fit of altruism Ottavi struck out on a north/south tile path to make a beeline for the wounded Kestrel. Likewise, the tile clicked into place beneath its feet, and another searing ray shot down. In a flash of light Ottavi was reduced to ash, becoming the second adventurer entombed in the Halls of the Damned.

All were stunned by the chamber's lethality. Gemini carefully picked his way across the diagonal, previously-travelled paths to retrieve the unconscious Kestrel and slung them over their shoulder, promptly leaving the deathtrap behind.

As they departed they immediately bumped into a wandering slime girl named Thalice Churmthal, a failed town crier and 1st renown Deviant errant, who was eager to help out these poor haggard souls.

At the chamber's doorway the mummy-wizard's spectral ocular -- a phantasmal eye of cold white fire -- bobbed and gestured toward the chamber, as if to indicate their work was not yet done. Kestrel responded by wagering that they knew the forbidden art of shooting and killing ghost eye orbs with guns, which succeeded, and the orb dissipated into nothingness as a faint groan seemed to echo throughout the tomb.

The Company kept their eyes on the prize and continued south toward the object of their quest, the stashed King's Crown. At the foot of the door was a slain and moldering corpse of a greenhorn adventurer they recognized as Tubbs, a long-ago fellow traveler and member of Adipose Mab's mule train. He looked as if he was slain by a million knives, covered in many shallow cuts. The door was barred on this side as if he was trying to keep something from entering from the south. The Company mused on the foul creature they did battle with (the bearowl) in like the first session of our campaign one thousand years ago in real life. They wondered if it had perhaps left young behind, or if it had itself been the young of some even larger creature... curious...

The Company made their way south and passed through a chamber where a foul-smelling sarcophagus sat filled with dark liquid, beyond which a staircase continued upward. In the nooks and crevices of the ceiling loomed glittering webs and they heard the clacking of sharp mandibles. Five dog-sized spider-creatures seemingly woven of glass loomed on the ceiling above and appraised the Company threateningly, eyes flaring. The Company resolved to make a break for it and run beneath them their sights still on the Crown. Thus concluded the session.

deadSun -MAXIMAL- 13 Enter The Prism Tomb

This might go without saying, but for the uninitiated... spoilers for Tomb Robbers of the Crystal Frontier abound!

LOOT

    > Tunic of blue lapis lazuli (2,00cp, 1 slot)

    > Amethyst helmet (1,000cp, 1 slot)

    > Green jade bangles (1,600cp, 1 slot)

    > 200cp worth of Mummified Disquette parts (200cp)

DEVELOPMENTS

    > The Company made the acquaintance of a gold-robed undead(?) being(?) chilling on a crystal pillar in a flooded chamber in the depths of Murkvey's Rock. 

    > The creature claimed it would deliver the the Orb of the King to the Company if they killed someone hiding within the tomb called The Sleeper. They could identify an entombed corpse as The Sleeper by the lack of purple stains upon its lips.

    > The creature seemed to control some strange phantasmal eye-orbs of neon purple flame. It sent one to accompany the Company on their errand.

RECAP

    We picked back up with the Company dusting themselves off from battle with a phantasmal revenant within Murkvey's Rock, having swung by on their way to the Sleeping Place of the Feathered Swine to pick up a valuable treasure -- a King's Crown -- they had hidden their previously, during their delve months ago on behalf of Adipose Mab.

    They found themselves in a small hall with two pink Tomb Crystal coffins--one shattered and its inhabitant's remnants strewn about from their melee last session, one intact--and a towering silver statue of a warrior.

    They noticed the silver statue had an upraised hand that was crudely hacked off and deduced it likely was the work of their longtime rival, Halaena Graf, and that it was where she had found her cool sword.

    Ottavi commanded a swarm of bugs to carry its mace and smashed a hole in the second coffin's lid from a distance, saving the Company from exposure to Tomb Crystal; they did so, leaving the silver loop intact, and peered within after the dust settled, seeing nothing of obvious value on the entombed corpse. The Company left the coffin with its silver loop intact and moved on to the next chamber southwards.

    In the next chamber they found a stack of many small white coffins that had been haphazardly tossed about and a strange crawlspace in the corner, from which colorful light flashed irregularly; listening closely, Kestrel heard a strange revolving droning noise from the depths of the crawlspace. Kestrel sent their rat skeleton-bullet animal companion down the crawlspace. While they waited Gemini and Ottavi investigated one of the small coffins and found its contents delicately wound in burial silks, which they unwound carefully as they awaited the rat's return. 

 

    Inside the burial windings they found the corroded remains of some sort of copper and plastic machine emblazoned with two initials, C. D. They pocketed what remained of value in the parts.

    Kestrel's rat returned with its skeletal whiskers alert, indicating to the party that something interesting -- but partially dangerous -- lay beyond. Kestrel took the lead as the Company crawled on their bellies through the damp narrow winding corridor.

    THE MOLDERING FIGURE 

    The chamber emptied into the ceiling of a room flooded with black water, a pillar rising from the center, upon which sat a moldering gold-robed figure, which was orbited by two eye-like globes of phantasmal purple fire. As Kestrel surveyed the chamber from the narrow ledge, the crackling of the figure's ancient limbs echoed throughout as it raised its gaze to meet Kestrel.

    In a haunting wispy cadence the figure welcomed the Company, claiming it had been waiting for their inevitable return, which it had foreseen within its crystal pillar. It asked the party if they truly sought the Orb of the King, to which they said yes, hoping to avoid drawing its ire.

    The being replied that it was in possession of the the Orb of the King and it would bequeath it to the Company if they assisted with a simple favor. It mused cryptically that it was bound in disgrace due to the mockery of a foe which it called the Sleeper. It claimed that the Sleeper's disobedience brought it great dishonor and that if the Company could simply kill the Sleeper, the being would be able to give them the Orb of the King. When asking how they would find the Sleeper, the being noted that the Sleeper's lips would not appear frosted with poison as the others do. Ultimately the Company played along with the request to avoid drawing the creature's ire.

    With a gesture the being sent over one of its phantasmal orbs, claiming "its eye would light the way to their quarry", and the Company departed, crawling their way back to the tomb's halls.

ON THE HUNT

    As the Company regrouped they felt a strange sensation of a double-diamond-like shape impressed upon the darkness behind their eyes. The phantasmal eye gestured for them to continue south, and they did so, Kestrel unlocking a bronze door to another chamber where a corpse sat slumped against a further southward door. The chamber branched off to a hallway and another bronze door, which the phantasmal eye beckoned them towards further.

    As they opened the next door they found themselves nearly blinded by a large chamber filled with unnatural bright white light. Gigantic prisms clicked and hummed as they cast the light from above onto an opulent tomb of glittering crystal tilework arranged in complex geometries. Five immaculate sarcophagi sat upright along the walls.

With aplomb the Company got to work, traveling the shortest paths to the closest three sarcophagi. Ottavi and Gemini recklessly smashed the Tomb Crystal lids; Gemini advanced to Tomb Crystal poisoning level 3, his eyes clouding with tiny crystal growths, larger shoots pushing out from his flesh. Kestrel opted for a more delicate approach in faceting the face of the third sarcophagus, but the ensorcelled material cleaved unexpectedly and shattered in their face, bringing them to Tomb Crystal poisoning level 1.

Within each sarcophagus was a beautiful Empyrean youth, gaunt and green-skinned and lanky. As the Company looted their grave goods (above) they heard a skittering sound from the walls and noted glimmering cobwebs looming in the wall's crevices, the hot milk-colored prisms still whirring in the unnatural sky overhead.

deadSun -MAXIMAL- 12 A Swine of Wights and Roses

Back at it again!

Dramatis Personae

- Kestrel (they), 3rd Renown Deviant

- Gemini (he/they), 3rd Renown Violent

- Ottavi (they/it), 2nd Renown Violent

Loot + New Tools

- 1 Healer's Kit (1 slot)

- 1 Vial of Swine Sedative (1/4 slot)

- 1 occulith chip (fingernail sized, 400cp, 1/4 slot)

- 1 silver tomb ribbon (200cp, 1/4 slot)

Developments

- The Company agreed to harvest valuable cysts from the Feathered Swine to clear their debt with the Vermomancers. 

- Fearsome 'mirror men' now stalk the halls of Murkvey's Rock.

RECAP - 1st of Firstmonth, 1V39

A WHORMY OPPORTUNITY

    The Company found themselves on the first of the month in Scarlet Town, hungover and broke as shit with 7,549cp in debt to the vermomancers. The vermomancers mentioned there was a special opportunity available to clear their debt, though it was specialty work, not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. The Company considered their options--including tailing a caravan that went missing--and then resolved to meet with the vermomancers to hear them out.

    Ottavi led them back to the vermomancers' yurt complex south of Scarlet Town. Their leader, Symanthe, was overjoyed to discuss the opportunity. Over tea Symanthe enthusiastically relayed the details, which I have copied and pasted from the module below (for real, they're gross):

Before hibernating, the Feathered Swine pulls most of the feathers from its pale pink skin to make a nest, which decays over the coming weeks and attracts strange mites. 

The mites don’t live long, but where their bites infest the Feathered Swine’s skin with their own parasites, cysts begin to form full of a vibrant green fluid. Each cyst forms a digestive sac full of ever-repopulating microscopic Ensorcelled Whorms, copulating in the green liquid even as it dissolves them, feeding the Feathered Swine while it sleeps. 

The Feathered Swine sleeps with its head retracted into the plump folds of its fatty flesh on a bed of rotting feathers.

The proper method for extraction is to slice through the subcutaneous fat under the cyst, and tie off the feeding tubes connected to it before severing them. Never take more than half of the cysts, or the Feathered Swine might die of starvation.

    Symanthe told the Company that the Ensorcelled Whorms were of great value to the vermomancers, and she would happily pay them 1,000cp for each Whorm Cyst that they were able to recover. Thus bringing 7 or 8 of them could easily wipe out their debt. Her hooded and chained associate Jreengus provided the tools necessary to perform the extraction along with a dose of a powerful sedative.

    The Company was quite amenable to the opportunity and took the job. Symanthe provided a map to the Sleeping Place of the Feathered Swine, a cave at the foot of a mountain on the edge of the Yellow Lands. They set off northeast towards the rising desert sun.

TRAVEL

    On the way the party resolved to pass by Murkvey's Rock and recover the opulent crown that Kestrel had stashed there many, many moons ago... though the best laid plans of mice and men and etc.

    As they rode on their bikes with their iron mule Mischief in tow they passed by the scorched wreckage of a wagon. Combing through the hot ashes and glassed sand Ottavi uncovered a single fingernail-sized piece of occulith (magic crystal gemstone).

    After several more hours of travel they encountered a group of strange men clad in heavy black armor piling into a massive strange mosquito-helicopter machine whose mirrored wings beat the air mercilessly. Around them stretched more scorched wreckage. One of the soldiers called out to the approaching Company that there were "slim pickings left for you vultures, after Green Hive has been through with them." The Company sized them up and considered laying waste to them but noting their superior numbers and armament they let them go on their way, the strange machine taking flight to the southeast.

Ornithopter from Vaults of Vaarn

MURKVEY'S ROCK

    The party rolled into Murkvey's Rock in the afternoon and noted a scent of cooked spiced meat on the wind, like barbeque. As they approached a familiar hoarse drawl called out. "Kestrel, you ol' kid of a gun. Is that you?"

    Murkvey and his men seemed to be in bad shape. He spoke with a rasp and had a corpse's pallor, glassy eyes, jagged crystal protrusions erupting from his flesh. In conversation he drawled and repeated himself and lost the thread regularly. Despite his condition he warmly welcomed the Company to join for supper in their "base of operations" -- bits of shattered wooden furniture half-covered by a tent flap, the "supper" a whole man that one of his associates was roasting on a spit over an open flame, "some goatherd who went stickin' his nose where it don't belong."

    Murkvey had feared the worst after the Company had left them behind without handing over the Orb of the King and were shortly followed by intrusions led by Adipose Mab, but they assured him they had no connections to Mab and had returned to bring him the Orb once and for all, which he greatly appreciated. 

    He told them they had bravely fought off Mab's expeditions but were driven out of the tomb by an onslaught of what Murkvey called "mirror men" - horrible creatures woven of glass that attacked with greater and greater numbers following the Company's departure. In response Murkvey and his men collapsed the tomb's entrance, through which the Company had previously conducted their delves on behalf of Adipose Mab, but that there was another way in he would happily show them to. The Company obliged.

THE DELVE

Map from Tomb Robbers of the Crystal Frontier

    The Company picked their way down a twisting crystal tunnel and found themselves in a chamber covered in feathers and stinking of animal. In one corner sat a pile of tar-soaked broken bones. Kestrel took a fragment of one. They found that the southern door was stuck, and Ottavi bashed it down with their greatmace, causing a ruckus that echoed throughout the silent Crystal Tomb, and incurring Ottavi a point of Exhaustion.

    On the other side stood a hall with various niches in its walls. In one stood a massive silver statue with its upraised hand hacked off. In another rested two coffins made of Tomb Crystal. On closer inspection the Company found that each coffin was wrapped about with a loop of silver, like a ribbon on a present. Despite copious joking about "this being the Dragon's Dogma coffin with the guy in it that gets you," Ottavi proceeded to remove the silver. Immediately a mummified figure burst through the coffin's lid, sending toxic Tomb Crystal dust everywhere. It grabbed Ottavi by the forearm with its cold cold hands and a strange light seeped into Ottavi's eyes.

    Springing into action Kestrel and Gemini struck at the creature, Kestrel with a gout of flame from their new sword-hand-cannon and Gemini with a runed emerald spear, both of which made contact with the strangely phantasmal creature. 

    Under the revenant's curse, Ottavi was filled with the inclination that Kestrel and Gemini had taken it their to kill it and steal its treasures, and that it would be best to do it to them first. It first whiffed dramatically but then struck a mighty blow against Gemini, shortly after which the creature was dispatched and the compulsion dispelled. 

    Licking their wounds and plotting their way forward to recover the King's Crown -- and perhaps the Orb of the King Itself ?? -- we left behind the Company as the session concluded.

The Halls of Arden Vul - First Session Report

 Yesterday I had the pleasure of playing in the first session of Tara's new in-person open-table old-school D&D game. I met Tara when she ran a B/X campaign of the original 1979 Keep on the Borderlands last year, which I was originally interested in as a weird long-form historical/academic LARPing exercise after spending way too much time reading OSR blogs on my phone at work. 

    Ultimately though I was impressed by the way she breathed life into the module by layering on her own evocative aesthetics, sense of character, complex histories, and intriguing secrets -- so when I saw she was taking on the 1,100-page megadungeon behemoth for her next campaign I was stoked to grab a seat at the table.

    I'm posting my log of the session here, which can hopefully be useful as a resource to future delvers... Delve on! I rolled up a human cleric named Ressona, an adherent of the new hotness Solarism, which I'll quote Tara's description of given the detail of religious society in the game:

   Solarism: This monotheistic religion, founded by the Ithruin philosopher Julian the Bronze, worships the Sun as the creator of the world and the sole God. Lady Alexia Basileos of Ra’ankh provides ample patronage to support its growth in Ithruin, and most devotees are easily convinced that the scorching midday sun of the desert is a natural candidate for worship. Solarites maintain a veneration of some pagan deities, but as human sages and saints, rather than gods.

    In the campaign Arden Vul is an ancient lost city of the current Archontian empire that's undergoing recolonization. Ressona is a fresh convert who's traveled to the lands of Arden Vul to loot and deface its priceless artifacts spread the good word of the one true god. 

THE RECAP: 25th of FEBRUARY, YEAR 2023 AEP

THE CITY OF RA'ANKH

     As the Most Literate among our Number I have taken it upon myself to Chronicle our company's exploits. Our boat arrived at the city of Ra'ankh and my compatriots gained the lay of the land. A scholar among our number informed us that this land was laid to waste in a civil war between wizards 300 years ago, in which the conservative faction prevailed; it was subsequently abandoned but was now being resettled by order of the holy Emperor.

     I made way for the immaculate Solar Temple in the city's holy quarter and made contact with a local priest, Mataph. He informed me that the Lady Alexia sought to establish a new Solarite chapel within Arden Vul, which I vowed to accomplish.

    Afterwards we met a strange man who forsaw our passage into a pyramid(!) in an invisible crystal ball. He told us something cryptic about the importance of traveling into the pyramid on south nort-facing stairs. He also sought whitecap cloudcap mushrooms. 

    My companions held audience with a mayoral figure in a nearby villa (Eusebia?) who asked us to locate Samantha the Red, an esteemed bodyguard of some sort who had gone missing several weeks ago.

    We regrouped at a tavern, the Centurion's Truncheon, and I heard tell of the following strange tales:

        > The Halls were built by toad men?

        > Somewhere in the ancient city is a gladiator pit, which has seen steady use throughout the centuries, despite reports of being abandoned (so said a one-armed man, who claimed he lost the other in said pit)

        > Something about a Lady (perhaps Lady Alexia) seeking evidence to unseat her brother, who might have been the Mayor?

        > PYRAMID!!! Atop the cliffs to the north! 

        > There were many passages into the Halls on the northern cliff face, but none were safe to traverse due to fell creatures known as Ghouls. I have taken it upon myself to Reason with these Ghouls and show them the errors of their ways.

        > There was an establishment ran by one Estelle past the northern side of the pyramid where safe lodging could be found.

        

        We passed the remainder of the evening in the Truncheon and set out for the ruins at first light.

THE ASCENT

    We walked north along the road to where it ascended the cliffs. Two massive statues of the historic warrior Arden and her sorceror-comrade Vul were set into the 1,500ft cliff face on either side of the ascending zigzagging road, next to a massive waterfall. A dwarf among our number noted something unusual about the construction of Arden's hand.

    At the base of the falls sat the ruins of an ancient tower. Buried under a pile of rubble in a corner of the structure we located a Cellar Door. Upon opening said door we were greeted by a frightful phantasmal figure who called out for one "Neaimah," who it claimed was "taken by a red priest". We closed the door, reburied it, and moved on, after providing ample Spiritual Comfort to the poor afflicted Phantasm and promising the swift return of its loved one.

    Many strange and dark passageways into the caves among the cliffs were found as we ascended. In one hidden passageway after the path's third switchback we dipped inside, so that I might Shine my Lantern upon those Forgotten Places, but finding nothing but the scratchings of vermin we returned to the road and continued our ascent. 

    Our dwarf also noticed another concealed passage behind the waterfall roughly at Arden's shoulder, but it was ruled too difficult to reach, and we continued upward. 

    

THE OBELISK

    Once we reached the top of the cliffs we passed beneath the city's gates and its land stretched before us. Ruins stretched in the shadow of the Marble Pyramid including a four-story building and a Collapsed Villa. 

    Along the road loomed a Massive Obelisk which I stood transfixed by for quite some time. Its surface was decorated with reptilian creatures (toad men?), a surfeit of pagan deities, and culminated in the symbol of the Sun at its apex. It was covered in an ancient transcription which our scholar translated: "THE BEACON SHALL BE REVEALED TO THOSE WHO BRING MIDDAY LIFE TO THE SUN, THE MOON, AND THE STARS". Clearly an object that Proved the Solarism of the Ancients.

    In a moment of deep contemplation I saw a holy light reflecting from a symbol atop the obelisk. It seemed an ankh-like symbol had been removed and the depression in which it once sat shone unnaturally--certainly a sign, a Divine Message. It seemed the monument had been defaced -- I vowed to recover the sacred ankh and return it to its rightful place.

THE INN

    We passed north through the ruined land, circumvented the pyramid, and found the rumored establishment, an inn beyond the city wall decorated with a looted depiction of Arden's head, part of a very modest settlement. We spoke with its proprietor Kronos and he was most agreeable. We learned that the top of the pyramid was the entryway into the Halls.

    Having observed that the entryway atop the pyramid was Tragically Roofed despite wonderful Proximity to the Sun I inquired with Kronos about the conscription of masons and daylaborers toward the efforts of removing it to better serve as a chapel for Solarites. He agreed to post an advertisement in his establishment detailing my request.

THE PYRAMID

    With some daylight remaining we decided to return to the Pyramid and ascend the steps to its peak, where apparently the Gateway to the Fabled Halls could be found. Upon rising we met a statue of ibis-headed Thoth presiding over a decorative panel in the ground. My companions rotated his articulated limbs and found in doing so different parts of the panel slid inward, revealing two separate downward staircases into the bowels of the pyramid, one heading north, one heading south. Recalling the strange sage's advice we took the south north-heading staircase.

    The stairs continued down for some time. We passed through a strange unnaturally-lit chamber and continued further downward. Eventually we came to a large room with myriad exits which I have dubbed The Crossroads.

    

A NEW ASSOCIATE

    A dead man slumped against the western wall -- ghastly. Statues and murals of Thoth dominated the room. My associates discovered that this statue's arms were also articulated and began to rotate them when we were accosted by a group of halflings hobbits brandishing weaponry and claiming we lacked the proper licensure to traverse the area. We nearly came to Wretched Violence but agreed to meet with their leader to arrange the proper paperwork.

    Upon being taken at swordpoint to their leader, one Plumthorn, who made his office from a chamber just east of the Crossroads, all were surprised to discover that this Plumthorn and one of our wizardly associates were in fact extremely good friends from back in college. Plumthorn called off his men and agreed to sign a License certifying our company's rights to traverse the area unbothered free of charge, which I have enclosed along with this Holy Chronicle for the Good Use of my Companions. Plumthorn also gave us information about the situation within the Halls:

    > A group of beastmen resides to the south, who Plumthorn called "Fucking Crazy". Their leader is called Demo.

    > Apparently the level below this one is dominated by a group known as the Cult of Sett, who seemed to Strike Fear into the Heart of good Plumthorn.

SIGNING OFF

  With our business concluded I pronounced myself exhausted and promptly left my companions to their affairs in the Halls. I have returned to Kronos' Establishment where I pen this Chronicle, and where I will reside in peace to Meditate upon the Splendid Obelisk and the many mysteries of this land. 

deadSun -MAXIMAL- 11 Scarlet Downtime Redux

 Times were hard for the Company as they rode out the rest of Lastmonth...

Gus L, Tomb Robbers of the Crystal Frontier

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

- Gemini (he/they), 3rd Renown Violent

- Kestrel (they), 3rd Renown Deviant

- Ottavi (it), 1st Renown Violent

LOOT

- Grampy Pete's bandana (1/4 Slot, 1 DEFLECT)

DEVELOPMENTS

- The Company now holds a common debt of 7,549 copper zennies to a mysterious league of jackal-masked science-mystics, known as Symanthe's Vermomancers. They make their home/laboratory in a small complex in the desert south of Scarlet Town. The Company stands at an impressive 11 Reputation with them currently.

- Ottavi has reached 2nd Renown.

RUMORS

- There are few tomb robbers who don't succumb to Tomb Crystal poisoning one way or another; it's everywhere, and it's resistant to all remedies natural and sorcerous. They say there's a witch in the wilds that's the only one on the Frontier capable of curing it for good. They say you'll find her if you ride out to the Barrow Fields south of town with an offering of two hogs on a moonless night.

- They say a well-laden AEGIS Consortium caravan disappeared on the southern roads through the Pine Hells. Its bounty of pristine occulith has yet to surface on the market.

RECAP: SCARLET TOWN, LASTMONTH, 1V39

    Downtime commenced as the Company recovered from their lengthy travels. They earned just enough from treasure to pay off their debts to Scarlet Town's Innocents and have a bit leftover. The Event Die rolled a 'free' result and they gained a much-needed reprieve.

    Their associate Breezy Pete approached the Company and gave them "his most valuable remaining worldly possession," his Grampy Pete's ensorcelled bandana, which kept folded in his breast pocket allegedly saved him from mortal harm by blade and bullet many a time. He offered it to settle up after saving his life. The Company accepted the gift. Now that they were even, Pete made a business proposal, saying that it was the loss of his boys that turned him to a life of revenge and that he was looking to throw in with a new gang. He offered his services to the Company as a henchman in exchange for an even cut of the treasure; the Company replied that they would take time to consider his offer, agreeing behind his back on their intentions to ghost him. With the business concluded the Company were left to their own devices. 

    Kestrel spent the downtime tinkering with their massive assortment of salvaged weaponry and crafted something akin to a hand-cannon. It gained the Potent tag and the Unwieldy drawback, requiring a full initiative round to set up if not prepared before entering combat. 

    Gemini's Crystal Poisoning advanced in severity to its second stage, in which (quote Tomb Robbers) "Patches of crystal build up on bone, hair, and skin. They result in random bruises, stiff joints, and frequent aching pains. -1 SKILL." The resulting SKILL loss reduced them to 0 movement dice.

     Gemini used their Arcane ancestry ability to attempt to replace their destroyed arm with a fully crystal mutant limb; on a partial success they regained use of the limb but compromised their ability to resist further Crystal infection (DV +4 on future saves vs. Tomb Crystal, up to +6 now).

    Gemini sought a remedy and found little success; it seems most tomb robbers were resigned to accept it as incurable, as it resisted most forms of treatment. He heard tell of a witch who dwelled in the Barrow Fields to the south that was said to be the only one capable of curing it for good, and that she could be found by riding out with an offering of two hogs on a moonless night.

    Ottavi elected to spend the month engaged in attribute training by wrestling gigantic mutant catfish in the marshy shallows around Rat Creek; Gemini joined in, and Kestrel used the opportunity to test out their new hand-cannon. [The Referee neglected to notice the 1,000cp cost associated with attribute training until the plan was in motion but ultimately ruled in favor of the catfish wrestling scheme, promising to assert the cost next time...] Ottavi increased its PHYSIQUE and Gemini his SKILL by 1 each.

CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION

    With hardly a dozen gold coins to burn between them the Company began to party on credit, which naturally spelled misadventure for them down the line.

    Gemini indulged in rodomontade, loudly bragging across town about lifting Fort Auroch's portcullis with only the strength of his rapidly-crystalizing biceps. They netted a cool 1,200 XP.

    Ottavi indulged in frippery, busting out their insectoid carapace on the catwalks of Scarlet Town and breaking into the world of cowboy high fashion. They rolled exceedingly well and chalked up 4,050cp of debt on the Company register, failed their saving throw, and rolled the following result on the carousing complications table: "You wake up in a random adjacent hex, stark naked, in someone or something’s house/lair. Your friends have all your stuff. Roll a reaction roll for your host." More on that in a bit.

Worm Handlers from
Miyazaki's Nausicaa manga

    Kestrel indulged in wanton obscurantism concerning their new hand-cannon creation, basically tripping out on excessive research into their new potential life as an arms dealer. They rolled high, netted a debt of 3,549cp, and failed their saving throw. Apparently word of their dabbling got back to their previous employer Adipose Mab, who lost Reputation with the Company, potentially compromising her well-earned recommendation.

INTO THE SLUG PITS

    Ottavi awoke in a dark chamber, covered in slugs. From behind a glass pane, figures in hyena-shaped masks observed and scribbled notes onto clipboards while others played strange droning musics on didgeridoos and harmonized vocally.

    Once Ottavi rose to its feet, the head researcher called out for her gaunt associate to open the chamber and greeted Ottavi warmly. Very warmly. She offered a handshake and introduced herself as Symanthe. Ottavi asked, "What did I do wrong?", and Symanthe replied, "Nothing, except perhaps for being a particularly exquisite specimen." She told Ottavi that she "hoped you will find the changes to your liking" and handed it a note of receipt, detailing the Company's extensive new debt to one Symanthe's Swarms and Sundries, some sort of commercial enclave of reclusive vermomancers. 

    With that Ottavi was free to go and wandered bleary-eyed into the desert morning, the outlying tents and hog pens of Scarlet Town just visible on the horizon.

    Thus ended the month of Lastmonth, 1V39.

    

deadSun -MAXIMAL- 10 A Pete Retrieved

 Fatigue and unexpected circumstances cut this one short!

LOOT

    - 50gp (Syndicator Hostel's reward for freeing Breezy Pete)

END OF LASTMONTH, SPRING, YEAR 1V39

    We picked back up with Hipsap dead in the dirt and Gemini, Kestrel, and Yako the Blue astride the gang's hoverbikes. Fort Auroch was gathering its forces and moments from laying waste to the squatting mutant merchant groups. 

    Yako implored the party to lend their strength to his people's efforts against the soldiers. The Company responded by slaying the weakened clown where he stood, claiming the ninth and final soul to satisfy the sword god's bargain. They rode out into the night.

    They rode on and encountered a strange mutant butterfly person thing, who summarily joined the party, taking its place atop Hipsap's bike. It called itself Ottavi Pithoportha. The Company rode all night through a strange formation of seemingly-infinite monoliths (polyliths?) in the deserts and found themselves nearly back where they came at daybreak. They changed course and passed a massive swarm of slumbering hogs and made their way back to the cave at Rat Creek, where they had struck the deal with the sword god so many moons ago. 

    The ensorcelled Breezy Pete was busy picking over the corpses of duck-men for new sword components in the cave-temple's atrium. The sword god came to molten life in his statue form and told the Company he was impressed with the chaos they had sown across the land. With a flash of light Breezy Pete was released from his geas and dropped his swordsmithing materials. He immediately stuck his hand in his jacket pocket and pulled out a greased comb, then ran it through his luscious hair.

    Pete was back, baby.

    The party each took a weird sword from the heaps as a souvenir. Gemini got a functional umbrella sword. Kestrel got a section of lead piping on a wooden hilt. Ottavi got something that was once a beautifully crafted paper-mache blade but was now a soggy mess of pulp, which they ate, like a weirdo.

    The ride home across the desert was uneventful and soon they returned to Scarlet Town's Syndicator's Hostel, where Pete bought the party drinks and was reunited with his boyfriend Crucius Dinommis a.k.a. Crucy D, whose job had kicked off this whole thing in the first place. Crucy slid the party their payment and promised that they'd eat free at the Hostel from now on.

    Thus the party holed up to ride out the rest of the month and take some well-earned downtime. 

deadSun -MAXIMAL- 09 Blood on the Canyon

 We're back!

LOOT

- One Yako the Blue

DEVELOPMENTS

- Much was learned about the Crimson Canyons:

    > None were being let through Fort Auroch due to a 'rampaging angel on the loose' in the eastern canyons.

    > Dozens of detained merchants were gathered outside the walls of Fort Auroch as an impromptu sit-in because one of their own, traveling performer Yako the Blue, was imprisoned within for the alleged murder of a guard.

    > The tomb robber Whiskey Dynamite claimed an ancient ruin on the northern lip of the canyon held a priceless artifact from ages past, known as the Board of Hiad.

    > Halaena Graf's gang, a rival to the Company, seems to have ties to Fort Auroch's Captain Mossak, and was seeking to make a name for herself by hunting and killing the canyon angel.

    > More... read on!

Image from Through the Valley of the ██████, though I remixed it a bit

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

    - Gemini (he/they), 3rd level Violent, polearm-swinging sphinx guy 

    - Kestrel (they), 3rd level Deviant, gunslinging robot

    - Hipsap Sanvalli (she), 2nd level Occult, moldomancer and slinger of sorcery

RECAP

    We picked back up on the 7th of Lastmonth, 1V49, high noon. The company had just bribed their way into the imposing Fort Auroch, a remote military outpost on the edge of a crimson canyon region and the gateway to the Ultraviolet Grasslands.

    The Company got the lay of the land: the guards were testy due to tensions with the prisoner and the merchant groups. A few groups of adventurers were partying and passing time at an impromptu tent bar in the Fort's courtyard.

    They were then accosted by purple four-armed man who introduced himself as Girondo od Vode. Girondo was liquidating his caravan, seeking to get out of the business, and had a range of strange goods for sale for what he claimed were half-off, everything-must-go prices. Kestrel purchased a foreign blade "hammered under the finest steelsmiths of the City of Violet, far to the east." Seeking relief from their destroyed right arm, Gemini purchased a strange feather called an "ultra jay plume" that Giorondo claimed could allow them to ignore the wound for short periods of time if they jabbed it into their arm, apparently a favorite stimulant of the Fort's soldiers. 

    Hipsap haggled and gathered information and they spotted Halaena Graf's gang among the adventurers at the bar. Girondo filled her in that they were here to slay the canyon's angel. Girondo also pointed out a crew led by a man known as Whiskey Dynamite, who were partying it up, apparently having struck it rich; Hipsap recognized these as the tomb robbers they had let go on their way the night previous. The Company went to the bar to speak with them.

    Whiskey Dynamite and his crew were messed up off of a concoction of energy drinks purchased from Girondo and their homebrew moonshine (Quatro Quarazy). They were filled with granduer and high off their success, spilling the beans about their upcoming score: they were looking to pilfer the fabled Board of Hiad from a ruin on the northern edge of the canyon, and invited the Company to take part in their ventures as hired muscle. The Company responded that they needed time to weigh their options, which as a fellow distinguished businessman, Whiskey Dynamite greatly respected.

    The Company passed the time in the bar with their hats drawn low and their cloaks buttoned up, attempting to avoid notice by Halaena Graf's outfit. Around nightfall Halaena rose and headed toward the Captain's keep. With subtle handiwork and judicious application of sorcery, Hipsap casually bumped into Halaena on her way out, and managed to swipe her jeweled silver rapier from under her nose without notice, the very blade she had taunted the party about extracting from Murkvey's Rock many moons ago.

    The party considered a range of options -- they had few days remaining to kill three more people to release the sword god's geas on their quarry, Breezy Pete, and the tense situation at the fortress only made matters more complicated. Eventually they hatched a scheme.

THE SCHEME 

    Two guards were posted over the Hole -- a small grate over a ditch in which the Fort's sole prisoner, Yako the Blue, was kept. Gemini approached the two guards in the guise of one of Whiskey Dynamite's boys, pretending to be blasted out of his mind on Quatro Quarazy, while Hipsap and Kestrel approached from behind to slay them. The guards were on high alert and quickly noticed both Hipsap and Kestrel slinking behind them (who failed their stealth rolls). Initiative turns and chaotic melee ensued.

    Hipsap struck the guards with a 3d6 blast of moldy maleficence, which sent them both into a coughing fit and quickly ate through the metal bars of the grate.  

    The guards responded in force with their red metal polearms, bringing damage to both Hipsap and Gemini. Gemini choked out a guard with the handle of their lucerne. Out of position for melee, Kestrel threw a bag of valuable occulith gemstones at the feet of the remaining guard, attempting to trip him as if it were a bag of marbles; the guard passed his save and crunched 1,000cp worth of treasure beneath his boots, unfazed. Hipsap was hurt in the fighting and managed to run the remaining guard through with an enhanced true strike from Halaena Graf's rapier, but not before he let out a cry of alarm. She then made short work of the incapacitated guard, claiming two out of the three lives left to satisfy the sword god's bargain.

    Scuffling was heard from the barracks and the keep. A weak voice called up from the hole -- "Siblings, is it you? Have you come for me at last?". Begrudgingly Hipsap kicked through the corroded grate and tossed Yako the Blue a rope, seeing his face for the first time: a twinky blue elf looking like Punished Griffith with a ton of piercings, clearly not having a good time. Meanwhile, a searchlight was lit atop the Keep's observatory and swept across the courtyard, and the sound of the heavy iron portcullis beginning to close was heard from behind them.

    The team made a break for it, having one initiative round of free movement before reinforcements arrived. Gemini used their last combat dice to sprint the full distance (like 120' or so, an impressive roll) and, under the influence of ultra jay, attempted to prevent the portcullis' closure with his own rippling biceps. The difficult roll barely failed and I ruled it as a partial success; they succeeded in jamming the portcullis' mechanism but suffered significant harm as a result, pushing beyond the limits of their mortal form. They were reduced to 2 HP and had depleted the last of their combat dice.

    Kestrel and Hipsap made a break for their hoverbikes, parked on the opposite end of the courtyard, Yako weakly crawling after them. As Hipsap drew near the hoverbikes she was fired upon by two crossbowmen from the portcullis' battlements and nearly slain, but her Tough ancestry allowed her to push her luck, surviving at 1 HP. 

    Gemini fished in their backpack for the mysterious green metal cylinder they had looted from the biker bandits previously and pushed the button, lobbing it high into the battlements above the portcullis. A brilliant neon green explosion briefly lit the courtyard and hissing goo spattered the gatehouse, accompanied by the rippling screams of guards undergoing strange mutations in the dark.

  Hipsap powered on the Company's bikes and brought them toward the gate, linking up with Kestrel and Gemini. More crossbowmen rose to the walls and two halberdiers emerged from the barracks, the sound of more clanking metal armored soldiers filing in behind them.

THE CHOICE

    At this moment the Company was presented a choice. With the bikes secured, the portcullis jammed open, and the guards atop it slain, there was nothing standing between them and the open road to the west if all they sought was a quick getaway.

    Behind them, Yako the Blue writhed in the sand, the Keep's searchlight circling around him.

    Coming up on the end of the session I gave the Company a clear, one-and-done solution: if they wanted to escape, they were free to. If they wanted to make a run back for Yako, it would require a challenging roll to ride between a hail of oncoming crossbow fire without suffering harm.

    Hipsap took the odds and rode into the blinding searchlight, doing donuts in the sand, attempting to stir up a cloud of obscuring dust.

    Her hand met Yako's.

    She pulled him atop the bike.

    A crossbow quarrel sunk through Hipsap's chest. 

    She was on death's door. She would die in two turns -- roughly twenty seconds -- if untreated.

    Kestrel attempted a difficult cross-bike last-ditch medical effort to stabilize Hipsap with the guards on their heels, but no one had a healer's kit, and given the immense pressure I called for a roll.

    It failed. Hipsap was dead.

    In frustration Kestrel pushed Hipsap from the bike, sending her corpse into the mud beside a squatting caravanner's tent. Kestrel and Gemini and Yako rode on without her into the night. Thus ended the journey of Hipsap, becoming the first adventurer entered in the Halls of the Damned; thus concluded the session.

winter dispatch

 

happy new year from the grotto!

    Life has been happening to me and my players and games have been taking a backseat, though we hope to be back at it next week. PDX was covered in a thick sheet of ice for a week but the sun is out now and I think I finally got a decent job offer (fingers crossed). We are so back.

    As usual I am involved in reading/playing/watching/making/listening to way too many things at once. In the meantime I have been playing Dark Souls 3 (which is fine but simply not as good or interesting as DS2) with my pal. I have been hankering for classic JRPG vibes and sort of completely missed the playstation era growing up so I started playing Final Fantasy VIII. I'm like an hour in. It's a chill time. I love to Junction a GF.

    Dia Lacina put out the best games essays of 2023. Read her pieces on gay MMOs and mecha shit if either of those are your jam.

    I'm watching a lot of Naoki Urasawa's Manben documentary series, which is free in its entirety on Youtube. 

    In manga I'm reading Ikoku Nikki (slowly) and YKK (the best). YKK is an all-timer. Beautifully crafted, love his environments, love the really subtly unspooling storytelling. I'm reading it in the new print collections and it's a treat.

    In fiction I finished Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses, which is Cormac McCarthy. Favorite fiction reads of last year were probably Sarah Schulman's Rat Bohemia and Shirley Jackson's Hangsaman, the latter of which I couldn't believe it took me so long to get to, perfectly eerie and prescient novel. Next up is probs Girlfriends by Emma Zhou or Casey Plett's On Community that I somehow missed when it came out.

    I'm plugging away at my little projects but not much to show yet. I'm practicing and letting things marinate. No rush.

    Til next time! Stay warm!

    - mir